Method and apparatus for assigning consequential rights to documents and documents having such rights

ABSTRACT

A rights management system including one or more consequential rights associated with digital content, and specifying a manner of use of the digital content, a right management module that enforces the rights permitting use of the digital content in accordance with the rights upon occurrence of a consequential event. The consequential event is based on another usage right. In one embodiment, the consequential event is the exercise, expiration, or possession of another usage right.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application is a Continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/867,749 filed May 31, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to controlling use of content, or other items,through usage rights associated with the content. In particular, thisinvention relates to the association of consequential rights with items,and the enforcement of such rights.

2. Description of Related Art

Digital rights management (DRM), or “rights management”, refers with aprocess of associating usage rights to digital content, as well asmanaging and enforcing the usage rights. Content can include any type ofcontent, such as music, books, multimedia presentations, videoinformation, executable programs or the like. In general, anyinformation that is capable of being stored can be protected through theuse of rights management. For example, a digital book could beaccompanied by a license establishing usage rights such as viewing,printing, borrowing, or the like, and any conditions governing thedigital book's usage. These rights could then be controlled by, forexample, an associated reader's software, and the allowabletransactions, such as buying, printing, or the like, be authorized by,for example, a clearinghouse. One of the most important issues impedingthe widespread distribution of digital content via electronic means,such as the Internet, is the lack of protection of intellectual propertyrights of content owners during the distribution, dissemination and useof the digital content. Rights management addresses this problem.

In the world of printed documents, a work created by an author istypically provided to a publisher, which formats and prints numerouscopies of the work. The copies are then distributed to bookstores orother retail outlets, from which the copies are purchased by end users.While the low quality of physical copying, and the high cost ofdistributing printed material have served as deterrents to unauthorizedcopying of most printed documents, digital documents allow easy copying,modification, and redistribution if they are unprotected. Accordingly,rights management controls the use of content, for example, to permitcopying, modifying and redistributing under certain specified condition.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,235, No. 5,634,012, No. 5,715,403, No. 5,638,443 andNo. 5,629,980, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety, generally disclose systems for rightsmanagement. In general, an author creates a document and forwards it toa distributor for distribution. Typically, the author is the creator ofthe content, however, the author can be any one of the creator, theowner, the editor, or any other entity controlling a portion of content,or an agent of one of those entities. The author may distributeelectronic documents directly, without involving a secondary party suchas a distributor. Therefore, the author and the distributor may be thesame entity. A distributor can distribute electronic documents to one ormore users, upon request. In a typical electronic distribution model,the content can be distributed as an electronic document in encryptedform. For example, a distributor can encrypt the content with a randomkey, having encrypted the random key with a public key corresponding toone or more users. Thus, the encrypted document can be customized solelyfor a particular user. The user is then able to use the private key tounencrypt the public key and use the public key to unencrypt and viewthe electronic document.

Payment for the electronic document can be passed from a user to adistributor by way of a clearinghouse which can collect requests fromone or more users who wish to view a particular document. Theclearinghouse can also collect payment information, such as debittransactions, credit transactions, credit card transactions, or otherknown electronic payment schemes and forward the collected payments to adistributor. Furthermore, the clearinghouse may retain a share of thepayment as a fee for these services. The distributor may also retain aportion of the payment from the clearinghouse to cover, for example,distribution services and royalties due an author. Various businessmodels can be addressed with rights management systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Applicant has extended the concept of rights management to includecontrol of use of any type of item, such as goods and services, inaddition to content. In this manner, Applicant has developed the conceptof an “enforceable usage right” as described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/159,272 filed on Jun. 3, 2002 and entitled “Method andApparatus for Distributing Enforceable Property Rights”, the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference.

It is known to use rights labels and the like for expressing usagerights using a rights expression language, for example. The rightslabels can be used to create a license by adding a resource (such ascontent) specification and a principal (authorized user) specification).In the above referenced application, Applicant discloses the concept ofand “item ticket” associated with the license and specifying an item,such as a good or service. The item ticket can be considered as contentand thus access and use of the ticket can be controlled in a knownmanner in accordance with the associated usage rights. The item ticketcan be in the form of a renderable document to create a human readablecoupon or the like. Altematively, the item ticket can be a computerreadable code or other symbol or specification that permits access tothe item specified in the item ticket. Any type of usage rights can beassociated with digital content or any other item (through use of itemticket, for example) to control use of the items in accordance with theusage rights.

Consequential rights associated with items allow for the limited usageof the item based on, for example, an absolute value, a relative value,or the like. For example, the starting period of a right based onanother event or another right can trigger the availability of a usageright associated with content. Furthermore, the time for limiting use ofthe content can be expressed as an absolute value, such as a particulartime and date, or a relative value, such as a usage right expiring twominutes after a first usage. The usage right can also be linked to otherevents, such as the exercise of another usage right such as accessing ofanother document, or the like. For example, usage rights can permit apiece of music to be listened to for only one minute, or only once,after the right to a second piece of music has expired or beenexercised. Moreover, the usage right can be linked to the possession ofanother usage right. For example, the usage right to print a documentmay be exercised only upon establishing the possession of a right toview the same document.

This consequential right assignment can be hierarchical, such as thesystems and methods described in co-pending patent application Ser. No.09/867,748 filed May 31, 2001 entitled “Method and Apparatus forHierarchical Assignment of Rights to Documents and Documents Having SuchRights,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Hierarchal rights are usage rights that one user cantransfer to another user. Hierarchial rights can be configured in a treestructure. In general, the closer the user right's are to the originalrights in the tree, the greater the users rights.

The conditional or consequential rights assignment can also be linked toother events that may or may not have more than one step or condition.For example, the condition could be a chain of events that trigger theconditional or consequential rights. An example of this can be used inremote learning schemes. For example, if college courses are offered onthe Internet, the courses can be offered at a specified time, or theaccess to a second course restricted until a first course has beenviewed.

In another example, if an exam has five sections, and for each section,a thirty-minute period is allocated, the user can proceed to the nextsection only by using the thirty allocated minutes, or by pushing abutton on, for example, a user interface, which indicates that they havecompleted that section. Alternatively, other triggering events and/orconditions can also govern transition to a subsequent usage right basedon, for example, a fifteen-minute break allocated between sections threeand four. In this exemplary embodiment, multiple timers or counters cankeep track of the time for each section and/or for all of the sectionscombined.

Alternatively, the test taker could switch back and fourth betweendifferent sections, as long as the time is within the allocated time foreach section or within other thresholds, such as a fifty-minute maximumfor any given section. Alternatively, in another exemplary embodiment,alternating between sections may be forbidden. In this exemplaryembodiment, time allocations can be based on multiple rules, andcounters may or may not be dependent on each other, as a testadministrator sets the rules and constraints of the exam prior toadministration of the exam.

In yet another alternative, the user may be allowed to exercise aconsequential usage right associated with content only upon exercisinganother usage right. In other words, exercise of a usage right may beconditioned upon exercise of another usage right. For example, the usermay be allowed to access content only upon exercising another usageright, such as accessing another item of content. For example, if anexam has five sections, the user can be allowed to proceed to the nextsection only after viewing and/or completing another section of theexamination. In another example, a user can edit content only after acopy of the content is made. Alternatively, viewing of content may berequired prior to printing that content or other content.

As another example, for joint projects, more than one person maycontribute to the document with comments and modifications and/or designchanges in which case, a rights management system can keep track ofexercised rights, modifications, sources of modifications, dates, orderof changes, approvals, vetoes, priorities, or the like. For example, ina paperless office, three approvals from three different departments maybe needed for an action item. Altematively, a first person, such as asubordinate, may only be permitted to view or edit a document after asecond person, such as a supervisor of the first person, has madechanges, approved, or otherwise exercised a usage right.

Rights assignment can also be integrated into, for example, an e-mail orelectronic messaging system. For example, a content owner can assigndifferent rights to different individuals and share or limit rights toinformation or files based on those rights. A friend could requestpermission to view or use a particular file, or further distribute thefile to another individual, everyone in the address book or the publicas a whole. Alternatively, the rights could, for example, limit theextent to which a user can add or delete individuals from a mailing listor address book. The right to view people in an address book could alsobe restricted based on a usage right. As another example, while in aninstant messaging mode, a user can have the right to exclude or limitother users to particular document.

If the set of assigned rights are commonly used for different documents,the rules can be expressed, for example, as templates, multi-hyphenpurpose templates, or the like. Templates are discussed in U.S.application Ser. No. 10/046,695 entitled “Method and Apparatus forManaging Digital Content Usage Right” filed Jan. 17, 2002, and U.S.application Ser. No. 10/159,272 entitled “Method and Apparatus ForDistributing Enforceable Property Rights” filed Jun. 3, 2002, that areincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In general, a templatecan be used whenever a user desires to assign a predetermined set ofrights to one or more, such as a set, of additional users. This templatecan contain, for example, a set of usage rights that may be particularlytailored towards the user class, accounting instructions, or the like.

In another exemplary embodiment, a content owner may desire to assignsome rights to a user, in terms of what compression methods the user canemploy on the original data. For example, for some data, the contentowner may wish to let the user be able to compress the data only by oneof the choices of lossless compression techniques to maintain theintegrity of the data. Alternatively, in another situation, for specificdata the content owner may desire to let the user compress the data onlyby one of the choices of lossy methods, as long as the bit rate or totalsize of the document stays below a threshold.

For multilevel databases, some parts of the data may be open to thepublic, while other parts may require different levels of rights orsecurity clearance, such as differentiated security, usingattribute-level sensitivity. For example, in a company, the telephonenumber of the employees may be accessible to the other employees, whileother personal information, such as personnel information, cannot beaccessed unless the content user is within a predefined class. Forexample, the direct supervisor may have access to inspect, read ormodify the employee's personnel file, as long as a “paper trail” whichrecords information pertaining to the supervisor's changes is generatedand associated with the file. Furthermore, the right to notarizeparticular document, such as the electronic-signature of an authorizedentity and/or a time stamp, with the option of an encryption for safestorage, can also be granted separately by a content owner.

Aspects of the present invention relate to associating consequentialrights with content. In particular, the present invention relates toconsequential rights which require exercise, expiration, or possessionof one or more then usage rights as a condition for exercising theconsequential rights.

This and other features and advantages of this invention are describedin, or are apparent, from the following detailed description of theembodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a document in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an exemplary rightsmanagement system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a document in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary right assignment according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary right assignment according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary right assignment according to stillanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary right assignment according to yetanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary right assignment according to stillanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary right assignment according to yetanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method for assigning rights according to anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a method for exercising a right based on acondition according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Typically, usage rights are associated with one or more items of digitalcontent based on, for example, a license agreement with the contentowner. These usage rights associated with content are generally providedwith one or more conditions under which the usage rights may beexercised. The usage rights may include one or more usage rights and/ordelegation rights. The usage rights specify the manner of use aparticular user has to the content such as viewing, editing, modifying,updating, printing, executing, or the like. The delegation rightsinclude, for example, to how many users a user can distribute thecontent to, and which rights the user is allowed to associate with thedistributed contents.

FIG. 1 shows a digital document 10 sometimes referred to as a “digitalwork”, which includes content 30 and usage right 40 that is associatedwith the content 30. The usage right 40 sets forth the manner in whichthe content 30 may be used by an authorized user. The usage right 40also sets forth one or more conditions under which the usage right 40may be exercised. As described in detail below, the usage right 40 maybe consequential right.

Conditional rights are usage rights that allow the digital document tobe used by the user upon occurrence of a specific event or satisfactionof a particular condition that is set forth in the usage right. Thisoccurrence may be indicated by a conditional trigger, i.e., aconditional event, which indicates the occurrence of the event orsatisfaction of the condition required. Similarly, consequential rightsare usage rights that allow the digital document to be used by the userupon occurrence of a consequential trigger, i.e., a consequential event.The consequential trigger is based on another usage right. For example,the consequential trigger maybe the exercise, expiration, or possessionof another usage right. Hence, “consequential triggers”, respectively,refers to the fact that the condition of the usage right is based onanother usage right such as the exercise, expiration, or possession ofanother usage right. By providing a consequential right that may beexercised upon occurrence of a consequential trigger, a content ownercan provide additional specificity and flexibility governing the use ofthe content.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary rights management system 100 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The system 100comprises a rights management module 110, a rights availability module120, a tracking module 130, a rights usage determination module 140, aninterface module 150, an accounting module 160, and a document updatingmodule 170, interconnected by link 5. The system 100 can also beconnected to a distributed network (not shown) which may, or may not,also be connected to one or more other systems, account processingsystems, rights management systems, or other distributed networks, aswell as one or more input devices and display devices (not shown).

While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 shows the system 100 andassociated components collocated, it is to be appreciated that thevarious components of the system 100 can be located at distant portionsof a distributed network, such as a local area network, a wide areanetwork, an intranet and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated systemor document system. Thus, it should be appreciated that the componentsof the system 100 can be combined into one device or collocated on aparticular note of distributed network. Furthermore, it should beappreciated that for ease of illustration, the various functionalcomponents of the system 100 have been divided as illustrated in FIG. 2.However, any of the functional components illustrated in FIG. 2 can becombined or further partitioned without affecting the operation of thesystem. As will be appreciated from the following description, and forreasons of computation efficiency, the components of the system can bearranged at any location within a distributed network without effectingthe operation of the system. Furthermore, it is to be appreciated thatthe term module as used herein includes any hardware and/or softwarethat provide the functionality as discussed herein. Likewise, the system100 can comprise any necessary controllers, memory, and/or I/Ointerfaces that may be necessary given the particular embodiment and/orimplementation of the DRM system 100. Furthermore, the links 5 can be awired or wireless link or any other known or later developed elementsthat are capable of supplying and communicating data to and from theconnected elements.

Functionally, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a request by a user to accessor otherwise use digital document 10 is received via the interfacemodule 150. Upon receiving the request from the user, the rightsavailability module 120 of the DRM system 100, in cooperation with therights management module 110 and the interface module 150, monitors forthe occurrence of the consequential triggers associated with the digitaldocument 10. Depending on the conditions set forth, including theoccurrence of the consequential trigger(s), the digital content 30 isreleased to the user for the requested use in accordance with thespecified manner of use. Any necessary accounting, such as creditingand/or debiting may be performed by the accounting module 160.

In one embodiment, whether the usage right 40 has been exercised by theuser is determined by the rights usage determination module 140.Furthermore, depending on the actual right granted to the user by theusage right 40, the digital document 10 may be updated by the documentupdating module 170. This allows the digital document 10 to reflect, forexample, which usage rights were used, the effect of any of these usagerights, a signature of the user and, for example, any modifications to,or assignment of, delegation rights (if any). Moreover, such updating ofthe digital document 10 may be tracked by the tracking module 130. Then,if the consequential right has an associated termination or expirationportion, the rights availability module 120 in cooperation with theright management module 110 and the interface module 150, terminates theuser's usage and/or delegation rights.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary digital document 200 in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention. The digital documentcomprises usage right 210 and delegation right 240. The usage right 210and the delegation right 240 are associated with content 220. Dependingon the application of the present invention, the content 220 may bebooks, documents, audio information, music, multimedia presentations,video information, executable programs, or the like. As also shown, theusage right 210 includes a consequential right 230 that sets forth amanner of use and conditions. Depending on the application of thepresent invention, the manner of use may include viewing, printing,editing, approving, modifying, updating, rendering, executing,distribution, copying, etc.

The condition for the consequential right 230 is based on another usageright 260. The consequential event or trigger that indicates thesatisfaction of the condition of the consequential right 230 may beexercise of another usage right 260 associated with content 220 or othercontent. In another embodiment, the consequential event may be theexpiration of usage right 260. In still another embodiment, theconsequential trigger may even be the mere possession of usage right260. For example, a license may set forth that in order for a user toprint the content, the user must have the right to view the contentwhich may be confirmed by looking for a grant to view the document. Itshould be understood that “possession” of a usage right (and variationsthereof) as used herein does not necessarily mean that the user actuallyphysically possesses the usage right or components thereof on the user'scomputer or the like. Instead, possession refers to the fact that theuser is the principal of the usage right, i.e. the user to whom theusage right is granted, or otherwise is entitled to exercise the usageright. Of course, actual physical possession of the usage right orcomponents thereof, for example, such as a key, is also “possession” ofthe usage right as used herein. Therefore, the term possession andvariations thereof should be understood more broadly than mere physicalpossession.

Moreover, the consequential trigger may also be based on a plurality ofevents associated with the usage right 260. In such embodiments, theconsequential trigger may be determined to have occurred upon occurrenceof any, or all, of the plurality of events. In still another embodiment,the consequential trigger may be determined to have occurred uponsequential occurrence of these plurality of events.

In a similar manner, the delegation right 240 includes a consequentialright 250 that sets forth the manner of delegation and conditions, thecondition being based on usage right 260 or another usage right. Thedelegation right 240 may include, for example, to how many users a usercan distribute the digital content, and which rights the user is allowedto associate with the distributed content.

It should be noted that whereas in the illustrated example, the usageright 260 that serves as the condition for the consequential rights 230and 250 is shown to be separate from the digital document 200, the usageright 260 may also be part of the digital document 200 in otherembodiments so that certain usage rights to the document 200 arerestricted based on the exercise, expiration or possession of anotherusage right of the same content 220. For example, the DRM system 100 maybe implemented so that the user's exercise of a right to view thecontent 220 allows the consequential right 230 to be exercised, which inturn, allows the user to print the content 220. Alternatively, the DRMsystem 100 may be implemented so that the user's exercise of a right toview the content 220 allows delegation of consequential right 250 toanother user.

In the example previously described, when implemented in examination andtesting administration applications, the present invention allows theadministrator of the examination to require the test taker to exercisecertain usage rights associated with the test. For instance, the presentinvention may be used to require the test taker to complete, orotherwise indicate as being completed, one section of the examinationbefore allowing the test taker to proceed to take another section of theexamination. Of course, the present invention may be used in anyappropriate manner to control exercise and delegation of usage rights,and the above discussion merely describe example applications.

Thus, in the example of FIGS. 2 and 3 described above, the usage right230 and the delegation right 240 include consequential rights associatedwith content 220. The exercise of the consequential rights is allowedupon detection of a consequential trigger, the consequential triggerbeing based on another usage right 260, for example, the exercise,expiration, or possession of usage right 260. In this regard, the rightsmanagement module 110 of the DRM 100 system, may be implemented to allowuse of the content 220 in accordance with the consequential rights basedon another usage right 260.

FIGS. 4-9 illustrate examples of right assignment in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present invention. The conditions shown inthese figures may include consequential trigger so that subsequentconsequential rights may be exercised by the users. In particular, FIG.4 illustrates that after condition A commences, a user has a view rightfor a predetermined duration. Again, it should be noted that thecondition A may be an occurrence of a consequential trigger such as theexercise, expiration, or possession of another usage right or rights. InFIG. 5, after a condition B starts, a first user has a view rightassociated with digital content. Additionally, a second user has a viewright which is limited to a predetermined duration. Again, the conditionB may be the first user's exercise of another usage right, for instance,the first user exercising his/her right to view the document.

The conditional trigger may be provide in any appropriate manner toindicate satisfaction of the underlying condition. For instance, in FIG.6, if an exemplary user in possession of the document is known, via, forexample, a smart card, an identification, such as driver's license, afingerprint, or the like, and the user's identity matches theconditional right, the user may have the view and edit rights for thedigital document. In FIG. 7, if a predetermined condition occurs, afirst user has distribution rights, and a second user has an approvalright for a predetermined duration. For example, the conditional eventcould be a stock offering that the first user can distribute. The seconduser can then be granted the option to purchase stock at, for example, apreferred price, for a 24 hour time period. After 24 hour time period,this right to purchase can be withdrawn, and the second user's access tothe document be restricted.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example where the trigger is providedpredetermined time after a first condition ends or a second conditionstarts. Upon occurrence of the trigger, subsequent rights are available.In this exemplary embodiment, after the occurrence of the trigger, afirst user has view and modify rights, while a second user is grantedone print right. In FIG. 9, the conditional trigger is provided when apredetermined condition ends. Upon satisfaction of this triggeringevent, rights are removed from the document possessed by the user. Forexample, the document can monitor the current date and time, and oncethat time has passed, restrict access to the document.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a method for associatingconsequential rights with content to define a digital document such asthose shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. In particular, control begins in step S100and continues to step S110. In step S110, a determination is madewhether usage rights are already associated with the content. If usagerights are associated with the content, control continues to step S120where the available rights are determined, for example, the usage anddelegation rights available to the particular requesting user. Controlthen continues to step S130.

In step S130, the rights and conditions a user desires to haveassociated with the content are received. Next, in step S140, it isdetermined whether the assignment of these rights is allowable based on,for example, a license agreement with the content owner. If theassignment is allowable, control continues to step S160. Otherwise, ifthe rights assignment is not allowable, control jumps to step S150. Instep S150, a message can be forwarded to the user indicating theassignment is not available. Control then optionally continues back tostep S130.

In step S160, it is determined if an optional accounting function is tobe performed. If accounting is not necessary control jumps to step S200.If accounting is necessary, control continues to step S170 where anynecessary accounting functions are attempted. Then, in step S180, adetermination is made whether the accounting such as any creditingand/or debiting is allowed based on, for example, a license agreementwith the content owner. If accounting is not allowed, control continuesto step S190 where a message can be forwarded to the user and controlreturns back to step S130. If the accounting functions are successful,control continues to step S200.

In step S200, the usage right as chosen by the user is associated withthe content. Then, in step S210, the digital document is updatedreflecting, for example, which usage rights were used, the effect of anyof these usage rights, a signature of the user and, for example, anymodifications to or assignment of delegation rights. Control thencontinues to step S200 where the control sequence ends.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary method of enforcing conditions of ausage right which could grant or restrict access to the content of thedigital document. In particular, control begins in step S400 andcontinues to step S410. In step S410, one or more conditions aremonitored for detection of a triggering event. Again, it should beunderstood that the triggering event which satisfies the one or moreconditions may be the exercise, expiration, or possession of anotherusage right. Then, in step S420, a determination is made whether thecondition of the usage right has been satisfied. If the condition issatisfied, i.e. the triggering event is detected, control continues tostep S450. Otherwise, control continues to step S430. Once again, thecondition can be the exercise of a usage right, expiration of a usageright, or the possession of a usage right.

In the case that condition is not satisfied in step S420, adetermination is made in step S430 as to whether the condition hasalready expired. For instance, a condition may have a time associatedthere with so that the condition must be satisfied by a predeterminedtime or duration of time. Referring again to the test administrationexample, the condition may have an expiration time such as 1:00 p.m. bywhich part one of the examination must be completed to proceed to parttwo of the examination. Alternatively, the condition may have anexpiration duration such as one hour during which part one (i.e., firstcontent) of the examination must be completed before being allowed toproceed to part two (i.e., second content) of the examination. If thecondition is not met within these parameters, the condition can beconsidered to be expired in step S430. If the condition is determined tohave expired in step S430, control jumps to step S510 where the methodof enforcing conditions of a usage right ends. Thus, in the testadministration example, the testing is terminated. Otherwise, controlcontinues to step S440, where the system waits for the condition to besatisfied, i.e. the triggering event to occur, and returns to step S410.

If the condition is satisfied in step S420, a determination is madewhether any accounting actions are necessary in step S450. Suchaccounting actions may include verification of payment of required feesor the like. If accounting actions are required, control continues tosteps S460 during which any necessary accounting, such as debitingand/or crediting is performed. This may be attained by, for example, theaccounting module 160 of the DRM system 100 of FIG. 2 previouslydescribed. Otherwise, if accounting actions are not required, controlproceeds to step S490. Next, in step S470, a determination is madewhether the debiting and/or crediting of step S460 was successful. Ifthe accounting was successful, control proceeds to step S490. Otherwise,if the accounting action was not successful, control continues to stepS480, where a message can be forwarded to the user indicating a problemassociated with the accounting. Control then continues to step S510.

In step S490, one or more users are allowed to access the digitaldocument based on the usage rights associated with the digital document.Next, in step S500, the usage rights of the digital document can beupdated, for example, by associating a digital signature with theidentity of the user and/or any modifications the user may have made tothe document, and any delegations by that user. This may be attained bythe document updating module 170 of the system 100 previously describedrelative to FIG. 2. Again, such updating of the digital document may betracked by the tracking module 130. Control then continues to step S510where the control sequence ends.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the system 100 of the present invention can beimplemented either on a single programmed general purpose computer orplural programmed general purpose computers or other devices. However,the system 100 can also be implemented on a special purpose computer, aprogrammed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integratedcircuit element, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signalprocessor, a hardwired electronic or logic circuit such as a discreteelement circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA,PAL, or the like. In general, any device capable of implementing afinite state machine that is in turn capable of implementing theflowcharts in FIGS. 10-11 can be used to implement the DRM system 100that manages conditional and/or consequential rights according thepreferred embodiment of the present invention. Various devices, such asPDA's, cell phones, set top boxes and the like can be used.

Furthermore, the disclosed method may be readily implemented in softwareusing object or object-oriented software development environments thatprovide portable source code that can be used on a variety of computeror workstation hardware platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed documentand right management system may be implemented partially or fully inhardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whether hardwareor software is used to implement the systems and methods in accordancewith this invention is dependent on the speed and/or efficiencyrequirements of the system,. the particular function, and a particularsoftware and/or hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputersystems being utilized. The document and rights management systemsillustrated herein, however, can be readily implemented in hardwareand/or software using any known or later-developed systems orstructures, devices and/or software by those of ordinary skill in theapplicable art from the functional description provided herein and witha general basic knowledge of the computer arts.

Moreover, the disclosed methods may be readily implemented as softwareexecuted on a programmed general purpose computer, a special purposecomputer, a microprocessor or the like. In these instances, the methodsand systems of this invention can be implemented as a program embeddedin a personal computer, an E-Book, a secure container, or the like, suchas a Java® or CGI script, as an XML document, as a resource residing ona server or graphics workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicatedelectronic document, an electronic document viewer, or the like. Thedocument and rights management system can also be implemented byphysically incorporating the systems and methods into a hardware and/orsoftware system, such as the hardware and software systems of a computeror dedicated electronic document.

The preferred embodiment discloses content as the item controlledthrough usage rights. However, any type of item can be controlled inaccordance with the invention.

It is, therefore, apparent that there has been provided, in accordancewith the present invention, systems and methods for managing electronicdocuments. While this invention has been described in conjunction with anumber of embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives,modifications and variations would be or are apparent to those ofordinary skill in the applicable art. Accordingly, applicants intend toembrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that arewithin the spirit and scope of this invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

1-42. (canceled)
 43. A rights management system for managing andenforcing rights to digital works comprising: a repository for enforcingrights associated with digital content; a usage right associated with anitem of digital content, the usage right specifying a manner of use ofthe digital content; a consequential right associated with the digitalcontent, said consequential right specifying a manner of use of thedigital content and a consequential event such that the consequentialright is exercisable only after the occurrence of the consequentialevent; and a rights management module that enforces the consequentialright by permitting use of the digital content in accordance with thespecified manner of use only after the occurrence of the consequentialevent; wherein said consequential event is at least one of exercise andexpiration of the usage right.
 44. The system of claim 43, wherein therights management module is part of the repository.
 45. The system ofclaim 43, wherein the digital content associated with the usage right isthe same item of digital content associated with the consequentialright.
 46. The system of claim 43, wherein the repository is a portabledevice.
 47. The system of claim 43, wherein the manner of use specifiedby the usage right includes at least one of, editing, approving,modifying, executing, updating, and copying.
 48. The system of claim 43,wherein the manner of use specified by the usage right is a manner ofrendering the digital content.
 49. The system of claim 43, wherein thedigital content includes at least one of, books, audio information,music, multimedia presentations, executable code, and video information.50. The system of claim 43, wherein the consequential event is theexercise of the usage right.
 51. The system of claim 43, wherein theconsequential event is the expiration of the usage right.
 52. The systemof claim 43, wherein the consequential event is based on a plurality ofevents, at least one of the plurality of events being at least one ofexercise and expiration of the usage right.
 53. The system of claim 52,wherein the consequential event is determined to have occurred uponoccurrence of all of the plurality of events.
 54. The system of claim52, wherein the consequential event is determined to have occurred uponoccurrence of any of the plurality of events.
 55. The system of claim52, wherein the consequential event is determined to have occurred uponsequential occurrence of the plurality of events.
 56. The system ofclaim 43, wherein the digital content includes an educational course.57. The system of claim 43, wherein the digital content includes anexamination.
 58. A method of managing and enforcing rights to usedigital works in a system having a repository for enforcing rightsassociated with content of the digital works, the method comprising thesteps of: electronically determining a usage right associated with anitem of digital content, the usage right specifying a manner of use ofthe item of digital content; electronically determining a consequentialright associated with an item of digital content, the consequentialright specifying a manner of use of the item of digital content and aconsequential event, and the consequential right being exercisable onlyupon the occurrence of the consequential event; and enforcing theconsequential right to permit use of the item of digital content inaccordance with the manner of use only upon the occurrence of theconsequential event; wherein the consequential event is at least one ofexercise and expiration of the usage right.
 59. The system of claim 58,wherein the item of digital content associated with the usage right isthe same item of digital content associated with the consequentialright.
 60. The method of claim 58, wherein the manner of use specifiedby the usage right includes at least one of viewing, printing, editing,approving, modifying, updating, and copying.
 61. The method of claim 58,wherein the manner of use specified by the usage right is a manner ofrendering the digital content.
 62. The method of claim 58, wherein thedigital content includes at least one of books, audio information,music, multimedia presentations, executable code, and video information.63. The method of claim 58, wherein the condition is the exercise of theusage right.
 64. The method of claim 58, wherein the consequential eventis the expiration of the usage right.
 65. The method of claim 58,wherein the consequential event is based on a plurality of events. 66.The method of claim 65, wherein the consequential event is determined tohave occurred upon occurrence of all of the plurality of events.
 67. Themethod of claim 65, wherein the consequential event is determined tohave occurred upon occurrence of any of the plurality of events.
 68. Themethod of claim 65, wherein the consequential event is determined tohave occurred upon sequential occurrence of the plurality of events. 69.The system of claim 58, wherein the digital content includes aneducational course.
 70. The system of claim 58, wherein the digitalcontent includes an examination.
 71. A computer program product,including computer-readable instructions for managing and enforcingrights to digital works in a system having a repository for enforcingrights associated with content of the digital works, thecomputer-readable instructions configured to cause a computer processorto perform the steps of: determining a usage right that specifies amanner of use of an item of digital content; and determining aconsequential right associated with an item of digital content, theconsequential right specifying a manner of use of the item of digitalcontent and a consequential event that must have occurred to exercisethe consequential right; wherein the consequential event is at least oneof exercise and expiration of the usage right to thereby providesequential access to the item of digital content.
 72. The computerprogram product of claim 71, wherein the item of digital contentassociated with the usage right is the same item of digital contentassociated with the consequential right.
 73. The computer programproduct of claim 71, wherein the repository is a portable device. 74.The computer program product of claim 71, wherein the manner of useincludes at least one of editing, approving, modifying, updating andcopying.
 75. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein themanner of use is a manner of rendering.
 76. The computer program productof claim 71, wherein the digital work includes at least one of books,music, audio information, multimedia presentations, executable code, andvideo information.
 77. The computer program product of claim 71, whereinthe consequential event is the exercise of the usage right.
 78. Thecomputer program product of claim 71, wherein the consequential event isthe expiration of the usage right.
 79. The computer program product ofclaim 71, wherein the consequential event is based on a plurality ofevents.
 80. The computer program product of claim 79, wherein theconsequential event is determined to have occurred upon occurrence ofall of the plurality of events.
 81. The computer program product ofclaim 79, wherein the consequential event is determined to have occurredupon occurrence of any of the plurality of events.
 82. The computerprogram product of claim 79, wherein the consequential event isdetermined to have occurred upon sequential occurrence of the pluralityof events.
 83. The system of claim 71, wherein the digital contentincludes an educational course.
 84. The system of claim 71, wherein thedigital content includes an examination.